My sister came into town this past weekend which made the 4th of July holiday more special, but it meant that my daily meditation became less daily and more sporadic. I got a few minutes in when I could, mostly on subway rides around the city, but not as much as I would have liked and I found myself missing it. I finally got back into my routine at the beginning of this week and tried out a few guided meditations. I loved them and that surprised me. I was sure that having someone talking, no matter how soothing, would distract me too much, but it was actually the opposite. Having someone tell me what to do, what to focus on and saying it all in an ultra smooth voice really helped me find that concentration that I had been lacking while trying other techniques.
I did the Breath, Sound, Body Meditation, and the Loving Kindness Meditation that I found in my initial research. And because I am not a great sleeper, I also tried the Body Scan for Sleep Meditation to help me turn off my brain before bed last night. I was surprised again at how well it worked. It made me so relaxed that I fell asleep before the meditation was even done. I still woke up once in the middle of the night so it didn’t completely solve all my sleep issues, but it was a really great start!

For the next week I had originally planned to try a combination of the techniques that I have been working on for the last three weeks, but the guided meditations went so well even just after a few times, that I am excited to keep trying them. It feels really good to feel like I have finally found my groove in this journey of learning to meditate.